Defense
Mister Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2471, a bill that will provide funding for the Federal Government through the end of this fiscal year.
While it has taken us far too long to get here, I am glad we were able to produce a bill that includes many funding priorities that I support.
Since last summer, I have made it clear that House Republicans wouldn't oppose appropriations bills unless they:
- Increase defense spending,
- Restrain non-defense spending,
- Include all long-standing policy provisions, and
- Do not include any poison pill riders.
After months of negotiations, we reached a deal that meets all four of these criteria.
The bill before us:
WASHINGTON – Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX), the Lead Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, announced the Honorable David Norquist, the 34th Deputy Secretary of Defense, former Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, and previous House Appropriations Committee professional staff member, as her selection for the Commission on Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution Reform (PPBE). The congressionally-mandated committee was created through the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act to address the Department of Defense's PPBE process.
Enacted Full-Year Legislation
H.R. 2471 - Omnibus
Agriculture, Rural Development, and Food and Drug Administration
Defense
Commerce, Justice, and Science
Energy and Water Development
WASHINGTON - Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX), Lead Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, released the following statement on Afghanistan.
"The fall of Afghanistan into the hands of the Taliban just weeks before the 20th anniversary of September 11th is a tragedy that will have many impacts, both short and long term.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this bill to provide funding for the heroes in our National Guard and Capitol Police, as well as the brave people of Afghanistan who supported our troops overseas.
While I am disappointed that it has taken this long to reach an agreement, the bill before us today is a strong package that deserves our support.
This bill:
- Reimburses the National Guard, the Capitol Police, and their law enforcement partners for the cost they incurred for their heroic efforts on January 6th; and
- Addresses safety and security concerns by providing necessary improvements to the Capitol complex.
The bill also provides much-needed assistance to our partners who supported our military during the war in Afghanistan.
This is a good bill, and I urge my colleagues to support it.
Thank you, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Madam Chair, thank you for yielding.
The revised spending allocations presented today contain only technical corrections to the initial allocations, which were adopted on a party-line vote two weeks ago.
Because there are no substantive changes from the initial allocations, I must once again oppose them.
They do not change the topline spending levels for any of the subcommittee bills – even though Members on my side of the aisle have consistently asked for bipartisan cooperation on funding levels.
These spending levels continue to short-change our national defense, while providing huge increases to domestic programs. Non-defense spending would increase by nearly 17% overall, and some agencies would receive unprecedented 30-40% increases above fiscal year 2021.
Underfunding our national defense while giving such extreme increases to domestic programs is unacceptable to Members on my side of the aisle.
WASHINGTON – Today, the full committee met to consider the fiscal year 2022 appropriations bills for the subcommittees on Defense and Homeland Security. Committee Republicans were unable to support the bills due to the total spending level and controversial policy provisions that are in the bills.
